A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



In ,660 Josbh IScrners by his will gave £5 yearly 

 out of Wormley Burv Estate for apprenticing. The 

 sum of £\ is deducted for land tax ; the sum of £\ 

 a year and the annual dividend; on a sum of 

 £m is. U. consols, amounting to £% lit., is 

 applied in apprenticing. In 1 909 one premium of 

 £io was paid. 



In 1764 Rebecca Ward by her will bequeathed 

 £11,0, now represented, with accumulations, by 

 £318 14;. consols, producing £719/. 4^. yearly, 

 which is applicable in the distribution of beef on old 

 Michaelmas Day to the poor. About 710 lb. of 

 beef are distributed annually. The two sums of stock 

 are standing in the names of James John Deller and 

 two others, who also hold a sum of £1 18 1 y. id. 

 consols, derived under the will of Sir Abraham 



Hume, proved in 1S38. The annual dividendi of 

 £2 19/. \d. arc distributed in coal. 



In 1613 William Purvey by his will gave £to 

 yearly to the rector for preaching twenty sermons. 

 The charge is payable out of the manor of Wormley. 



The recreation grounds consist of 1 acre acquired 

 under an order of the Inclosure Commissioners, 1871, 

 in exchange for two parcels of land awarded to the 

 churchwardens and overseers in 1858. 



In 1880 Mr<. Mary Grant, by her will proved at 

 London 7 December, left £200, less legacy duty, 

 now represented by £lSl i6j. \d. consols, with the 

 official trustees, the annual dividends, amounting to 

 £\ icv. \od., to be applied for the benefit of the 

 schools established in 1863, and for the maintenance 

 therein of the Established Church. 



BOROUGH OF HERTFORD 1 



Heortforde, Hcorotforda (x cent.) ; Hertforde 

 (,i cent.) , Hartford (xiii cent.). 



The borough of Hertford is situated z miles west 

 of the main Cambridge road. From it a road runs 

 north-eastwards in Ware and north-westwards to 

 Walton at Stone. To the west of the town a branch 

 from this road leads to Wclwyn and another runs 

 south-westwards to Hatfield, where it joins the Great 

 North Road. The road between Watton and Hert- 

 ford would seem to be an ancient road from the fact 

 that it forms for a little way the parish boundary. 

 The ford by which the road crossed the Lea was 

 evidently the ford from which Hertford took its 

 name and was presumably a little to the south of (he 

 present bridge, the situation of which now causes a 

 deflection in the road. 



Hertford is divided by the River Lea into two 

 distinct portions ; the principal thoroughfares follow 

 the shape of a large Y, with Fore Street for its main 

 limb running east and west. A small triangle of 

 streets forms its western termination and connects it 

 on the south with Castle Street and on the north with 

 a street known as the 'Wash,' which leading north- 

 wards over the river by Mill Bridge takes a westward 

 inclination and joins St. Andrew's Street at Old Crois. 

 Along Fore Street and between it and the Lea the 

 greater part of the town is grouped, the northern 

 portion consisting mainly of the houses which com- 

 pose St. Andrew's Street, on the south side of which 

 stands the rebuilt church from which it takes its 

 name. All Saints' Church, which is also entirely 

 modern, stands in a large churchyard a little to the 

 south of Fore Street. The castle is situated on the 

 south bank of the River Lea, to the south-west of 

 the town, and gives its name to Castle Street, which 

 skirts the original line of the moat on the south side. 



To the north-west of the parish church of All 

 Saints is the old rectory, a plastered half-timber 

 building of the early 17th century. On the front 

 door is the date 163 1. The plan is of the H type, 

 but modern alterations have obscured the original 

 arrangement. At the north-east of the churchyard 



1 The bounds of the borough an laid 1 



is Hale's Grammar School, a one-storied brick building 

 with an attic floor and tiled roofs, lighted by modern 

 brick-mullioned windows. Worked in nails upon the 

 door is the date 1667; the door itself, however, 

 appears from its style to be contemporary with the 

 school building, which was erected about the year 

 1617 by Richard Hale of London." The school was 

 amalgamated with Ware Grammar School in 1905, 

 and an increase in the endowment having been made 

 by Earl Cowpcr a new building was added at the 

 rear to extend the accommodation in 1907. liayley 

 Hall, situated to the west of the rectorv, is now used 

 as the residence of the head master of the gramm;r 

 school. It is a fine Queen Anne house of three 

 stories and a ba-cment, square on plan, with a large 

 central staircase hall. Much good panelling remains 

 internally ; the panelled dado to the stairs i« of 

 mahogany with occasional inlaid ornament. The 

 elevations are designed in the dignified manner of 

 the period, with moulded brick string-courses and 

 gauged brick pilasters. A modern addition has been 

 made on the east. To the north-west oi the house 

 is a stable building of the same date, the basement of 

 which has a brick vault, supported by a small circular 

 column of the same material. 



The Shire Hall, where the assizes and quarter 

 sessions are now held, stands on the north side of 

 Fore Street in the centre of the market-place. By 

 the charter of James I the corporation received the 

 grant of 'a house on the royal waste called the Town 

 Hall,' with a reservation of the right to hold session* 

 of the peace there. 1 ' The erection of a new Shire 

 Hall was proposed in 1767, 1 and the present build- 

 ing was completed in 1 769.* It is a symmetrically 

 planned building of stock brick, from the designs of 

 the brothers Adam. 8 Among the paintings in the 

 Council Chamber are portraits of King William III, 

 George II, Queen Caroline and other members of 

 the royal family, presented by the third Earl Cowper 

 in 1768. The corn exchange and public hall were 

 built on the site of the old Butchers Market in 1857/ 

 To the west of the Shire Hall, upon the same side of 



